


The Way You Said "I Love You"

by lovethybooty



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Abandonment, Angst, District 4, F/M, Fluff, I Love You, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Panem, Post-Canon, Post-Series, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, The Capitol, Tumblr Prompt, coping methods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-09 12:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6908158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovethybooty/pseuds/lovethybooty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>35 (and possibly more) ways Finnick and Annie said "I love you" throughout the years.  Based on the prompt list created by trash-by-vouge.tumblr.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 28. When I am dead

**Author's Note:**

> So, as I mentioned in the summary, this is based off a prompt list by tumblr user trash-by-vouge. I looooove these, and have a lot of ideas (they all battle it out in my head for the supreme idea, haha) so I may end up rewriting some of the prompts with different scenarios eventually.
> 
> Basically, I'm just having fun!
> 
> Leave a comment or something if you enjoy it! I'll be updating with more prompts as I have the time.
> 
> Happy Reading! :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's everywhere she goes, in everything she sees.

Annie swears she can still see him.  

They call her crazy- a broken-hearted mad girl so unstable she rejected her newborn son. Don’t waste your time trying to fix her, they say.

But Annie knows the truth. She knows that he’s still there. Because sometimes, smack dab in the middle of a heat wave in July, the room is unnaturally cold. And other times she can feel him- fingertips lingering on her bare skin, sending shivers down her spine. And when she’s down by the shore, alone with her peace and the waves, she hears laughing- loud and booming and joyous.

He’s everywhere she goes, in everything she sees. And no amount of madness could make him any less real. And no amount of morphling could make her stop whispering, “I love you.”

 


	2. 18. From very far away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie watches Finnick's interview before the Quarter Quell.

Annie sits in a crowded room, but she is alone.

Searching for any sign of Finnick, she watches the crackling projection with an acute alertness. The reception is bad- going in and out- but Annie can see that the tributes _(No- Victors, Annie._ _Remember?)_ are lining up for their interviews, donned in ridiculous, glittering outfits of all colors. She catches a glimpse of the back of his bronze hair and gasps softly, her hand clutching the pendant dangling from the chain hanging around her neck.  

Around her, old friends are laughing quietly, joking and jesting in a way that makes her stomach churn. Can they not hear her heart rattling inside her chest?  Do they not know that the air has been sucked from her lungs, leaving her to sit in silence?  

When it’s finally time for Finnick’s interview, a gentle hand squeezes her shoulder, but Annie’s eyes are glued to his image. There is no comfort in the company of others this time.  Not while he’s so far away.

He’s charming, as usual, but even his easiness sends waves of discontent through her body. It is not until he recites a poem that she is calm. For the first time this evening, he sounds genuine. It’s her Finnick- not the Capitol Golden Boy.  

Miles and miles away in the Capitol, Finnick is speaking to all of Panem- but she knows it’s truly meant for _her_. “My last thought would be of your lips,” he closes with a sultry smile. It’s his way of saying, “I love you,” but Annie still shivers in discomfort.


	3. 26. Broken, as you clutch the sleeve of my jacket and beg me not to leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a deep breath, he walks out of her house- his hand in one pocket, her heart in the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had the idea of the "But I love you. Isn't that enough?" line for awhile, and this just happened to be the perfect place to use it. The last line (which is used in the summary) is inspired by the ending of Mari Evans's poem, "Where Have You Gone?"

_I’m going to the Capitol- but, I’m not coming back this time. Annie, I’m sorry._

Annie stares at the floor. He’s speaking to her, but the words sound like a foreign language that only she cannot understand. Nothing he can say now will make a difference. She does not want an explanation, or an apology. Annie just wants him.

Pain lines Finnick’s face as he finally turns to leave, a special car already waiting on the corner to drive him to the train. It’s not that he wants to go- but even _he_ cannot disobey the president’s orders. Annie lifts her head and watches as he heads for the door in silence, only the chaotic thumping of her heart inside her chest left to remind her that this is the real life.

Tears well in her eyes, and like a dam- she breaks. Annie surges forward, snatching his arm and pulling him back to face her. She looks at him- realizes she hadn’t thought out what she would say- and is at a loss for words.

“Ann,” he murmurs. “ _Don’t_.”

White knuckles grip the sleeve of his sports coat and it feels as if the air has been sucked from her lungs by a mortal vacuum. “Don’t go,” Annie manages to squeak out.

“Don’t make this any harder for me than it already is.”

“ _Please_ ,” she grovels.

“Annie,” Finnick sighs, his calloused hand moving to shake her away. “Listen to me. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

“B- but I love you. Isn’t that enough?” Annie begs as a rushing river of tears flood her stinging eyes, spilling over the brink and down her cheeks like a salty waterfall.

He stares at her for a moment, then suddenly looks away- hiding his own tears behind a mask of several fingers and the lined cuff of his sleeve. Finnick slowly shakes his head and unravels her feeble fingers from his forearm, dropping her hand to hang limply at her side. Taking a deep breath, he walks out of her house- his hand in one pocket, her heart in the other.


	4. 3. A scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you have nothing for so long, you forget the terror of having something to lose. -Alexandra Bracken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CF jabberyjay scene from Finnick's perspective.
> 
> Obviously, "I love you" isn't actually said- but his screams for her are the panicked equivalent.
> 
> Please enjoy this rewrite and comment if you have any thoughts!
> 
> Happy Reading! :D

He stumbles into the clearing, only to see Katniss with her bow in hand. That’s when he hears her.  

_Annie._

She’s yelling- bloodcurdling and high pitched. She’s screaming bloody murder and she’s screaming his name.

Finnick is washed over with panic- the color drained from his skin, his eyes wide with fear. He races through the dense forest, a sense of dread rising in his chest that he isn’t quite sure how to quell. Katniss trails behind him, shouting, but her words are muffled- drowned out in exchange for Annie’s cries.

“Annie! Annie!” Finnick shouts into the jungle, searching with a desperation that would kill him if he let it. He pushes through bushes and branches, powering his way into a new, uncharted area. It is only after Katniss guns down the bird flying overhead and the screaming stops that he realizes there’s no possibility of Annie actually being in the arena.

Slowly, he bends down, scooping up the fallen bird. He examines it- a jabberyjay.

* * *

Once back at their makeshift camp, Finnick cracks. The unthinkable clouds his mind, his judgement. He knows how cruel the Capitol can be. He has witnessed it first hand every day for the past ten years. He knows just what they can and would do to a person to get what they want- to instill fear and force submission.

But _Annie_? His Annie?

His head drops between his knees. Finnick tries to shake the intrusive echoes of her screams from his thoughts, instead thinking back to a life before Annie. It is an entirely different world- much darker, colder, and he is alone. All alone in world that threatens to eat him alive with every breath he takes.

 _I can’t do this without her,_ he thinks.


	5. 1. As a hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But this was different, because Annie was a different person now, and those had only been crushes, and Annie Cresta had never been in love before Finnick Odair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next installment. Wanted to write something a little less sad than the others I've filled so far?
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoy! 
> 
> Happy Reading! :D

Annie sat under her kitchen table, her face still red and puffy from the past few days of nonstop tears. Mags had been stopping in nearly every day, forcing her to eat and drink- much to Annie’s protest.

It wasn’t that Annie had never been rejected before. When she was twelve, her schoolyard infatuation Noah had flat out told her “no,” and during her last year at the Academy, Adrian Calder had never even glanced her way. But this was different, because Annie was a different person now, and those had only been crushes, and Annie Cresta had never been in love before Finnick Odair.  

These days, she didn’t quite know how to describe or understand her feelings, let alone handle them. So when she kissed him on the rocks overlooking the sea, she was just as surprised as he was. Her true intentions had a funny way of revealing themselves most days- a funny way that only ever seemed to get her in trouble.

Finnick understandably fled the scene- leaving Annie alone to wallow in the sheer horror and confusion of the situation. She eventually returned home, in the early hours of the morning the next day, and she hadn’t left her house since. She hadn’t stopped crying either.

Annie had not realized how deeply she cared for him until that evening. All she knew was that Finnick was the only one who could make her feel even remotely normal, and for that she was grateful. She was also grateful for his eyes, and his dimples, and the way he would sing silly shanties and tell her dirty jokes that would have had her scolded if Mags ever heard them. Over time Annie had grown fond of his company, no matter how sporadic, and she knew she didn’t want to lose him.

But now he was gone and Annie was all alone in a home too big to house one small girl who did everything in her power to shrink smaller and smaller until she was nearly invisible.

She looked around the kitchen nervously. Empty. It was well past noon and Mags hadn’t visited today, leaving Annie to fend entirely for herself. Unfortunately for her, her kitchen was relatively empty. Cooking wasn’t exactly the best pastime for a girl who couldn’t keep her eyes on the clock long enough to know when a meal was done- or worse, burnt to a charred crisp.

A knock sounded from the side door, just loud enough for Annie to hear from her place on the floor. Perhaps Mags had finally come to force feed her or sedate her or send her away or…

A second knock made her jump, ripping Annie from her thoughts. Cautiously, Annie crawled out from beneath the table, rising to a stand in the middle of her kitchen. She padded down the hall slowly, her curiosity not peaked enough to rush her. When she finally reached the door that led to a small sandy pathway to the shore- one of the three entrances to her house- she pulled the door open hesitantly, unsure if she actually wanted to see who (or what) waited on the other side. Once the door was all the way open, Annie’s eyes went wide, what little color that was left in her cheeks draining like an ice cold bath.

Finnick.

He ran a hand through his tousled hair with uncertainty, avoiding her gaze. Finally, after a long moment of incredibly awkward, uncomfortable silence, he sputtered out, “Annie Cresta, I love you.”


	6. 4. Over a cup of tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her grandmother had always said that a pot of tea could patch up any rough situation and after some very late, tough nights followed by piping hot cups, Annie had adopted that mantra herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in the true fashion of procrastination- avoiding an office AU of sorts that I'm trying to write.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this fluffier piece!
> 
> Happy Reading! :D

Annie peers over her porcelain teacup. It’s pastel pink with a lavender lining and it smells like the emporium her grandmother would take her to on special occasions when she was a little girl. Until the Games, she had never had such nice things and after three years she still isn’t quite sure what to do with it all.

Across the dark cherry coffee table sits Finnick. Unlike Annie, he’s cross-legged on the floor- only his head, hands, and a hint of his cableknit sweater visible from her seat on the plush couch. She’d extended the offer to him, but he’d declined, opting to sit on the hardwood instead, where he had a “better view of the pretty girl who shared his company.”

A storm rages on outside the parlor room window, the aftereffects of a mild hurricane many miles down the coast. Originally, the pair planned to have a picnic under the old pier, maybe even lead an excursion to Neptune’s Rock, but the weather decided differently- leaving them stuck inside and undoubtedly bored.

After they realized that the day’s plans were canceled, Annie put a kettle on the stove. Her grandmother had always said that a pot of tea could patch up any rough situation and after some very late, tough nights followed by piping hot cups, Annie had adopted that mantra herself.

“What are you staring at, Miss Cresta?” Finnick cocks his head, a mischievous, lopsided grin plastered across his face. “Are my unbelievably handsome and chiseled features distracting you?”

“Hm?” Annie replies after a moment, snapping out of her thoughts. “Oh, yeah- I mean, no. I was just thinking about how much you mean to me,” she cracks a small smile, her cheeks pink and hot.

Finnick laughs and pours himself another cup of tea, “I love you too, Annie.”


End file.
